ORCHARD PARK — The Buffalo Bills got their receiver, it just wasn’t the guy many envisioned.
After trading down twice in the first round, the Bills nabbed Florida State wide receiver Keon Coleman with the first pick of the second round, No. 33 overall, in the NFL draft Friday. Coleman made 50 receptions for 658 yards and 11 touchdowns last year, with 115 catches and 19 touchdowns over three seasons with Michigan State and Florida State.
At 6-foot-3, 213 pounds, the 20-year-old Coleman is one of the top receivers in the draft in making contested catches, but his speed and lack of polished route running pushed him into the second round. Coleman ran a 4.61-second 40-yard dash at the NFL scouting combine, the second-slowest among receivers.
Bills general manager Brandon Beane believes Coleman’s speed on the football field isn’t indicative of his 40 time, which is why he would have been Buffalo’s pick even if it didn’t trade out of the No. 32 pick Thursday.
“Is he going to run away from people? Probably not,” Beane said. “It’s probably not his No. 1 strength. I think his play speed is definitely faster. We were able to get access to the GPS times. I would feel his play speed is closer to 4.5. Not 4.4, but plenty fast, separation ability, the ability to drop his weight … If he was true 4.4 game speed, he wouldn’t have been available.”
Going back to the combine, Beane has valued football speed ahead of testing and he lauded Coleman’s flexibility and ability to break in and out of routes, while also having a chance to create yards after the catch.
Of Coleman’s 658 yards last season, 47.7% came after catching the ball, while his targets came 12.4 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. Over his career, Coleman accumulated 38% of his yards after catching the ball and his targets came 12.2 yards downfield, indicating he was not simply catching quick screens.
Beane was on hand when Coleman caught a nine-yard pass and turned it into a 41-yard touchdown against LSU in last year’s season opener. Coleman had nine catches for 122 yards and three touchdowns in the game.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been caught from behind,” Coleman said. “I don’t think I’ve ever had the chance to not be able to run by somebody. More so than that, I don’t think there was ever just one DB that just sat when I was running at them, so that pretty much tells you all you need to know. Guys that are saying that about the speed aren’t the guys that are on the field. Your opinions, they’re opinions for a reason.”
The biggest appeal to Coleman, though, is his ability to make contested catches, particularly in the red zone. His 78 ⅛-inch wingspan ranked among the longest for receivers at the combine, as did his 10-foot, 7-inch broad jump.
Coleman made 12 catches in the red zone during his college career and eight of them went for touchdowns, including 5 of 7 last year. It adds up, given Coleman was also a standout basketball player who was on the team at Michigan State as a freshman.
“When you get down there, you want to make sure you’re getting seven instead of kicking field goals,” Beane said. “And so this gives us another guy that Josh (Allen) can trust, even if he is covered, to throw him a ball, whether it’s back shoulder, or whether it’s a fade in the back of the end zone. If you look at his tape, you’ll see all of those throws at some point and he makes his fair share.”
Bills fill two defensive needs
The Bills filled a second hole with their second pick in the second round, snagging Utah safety Cole Bishop with the 60th pick.
Bishop is bigger and faster than Micah Hyde or Jordan Poyer, but his instincts and ability to direct the defense are what comes into question. The 6-foot-2, 206-pounder is rangy and ran a 4.45 40-yard dash, with the ability to play in the box or deep, but he’s a tad stiff and sometimes struggles in man-to-man coverage.
Coincidentally Bishop felt one of his strengths is covering tight ends, honed by matching up with Bills tight end Dalton Kincaid in practice for two seasons at Utah. And perhaps Bishop isn’t a first-day starter, considering three defensive players — Tremaine Edmunds, Ed Oliver and Tre’Davious White — played more than 50% of the snaps as rookies, but the Bills used a three-safety lineup often last season after linebacker Matt Milano was placed on injured reserve.
The Bills have veterans in Taylor Rapp and Mike Edwards, who could enable Bishop to move around. He played 247 of 587 snaps at free safety last season, but played 48% of his snaps over three seasons in the box — making 21 ½ for a loss during his career — and nearly 25% as a slot cornerback.
“(In the pre-draft visits), there’s times you have to show some of your plays and then draw some stuff up and it’s nice to have a lot of different things on film so you’re able to show different times playing free or strong or in the box,” Bishop said. “That was a big focus (with the Bills), I’d say.”
With the No. 95 pick, the third rounder sent in the trade with the Kansas City Chiefs, the Bills checked off another box, adding Duke defensive tackle DeWayne Carter.
Carter, a 3 technique who played 52 games over five years, adds to the depth at position the Bills currently have one player (Oliver) who is under 30 years old and signed beyond 2025. He had 25 tackles for a loss and 12 sacks in college.
At 6-2, 302 pounds, Carter ran a 4.99 40 at the combine and has long arms for his size, but his relentlessness sometimes leaves him out of position. The Bills like to rotate on the defensive line, often having five defensive tackles active last season, and Carter could end up being a piece to that group.